Broken Girl
by Gingerbolt2000
Summary: Agent Tennessee is a quiet girl who chooses to talk through sign language after an event in her past that resulted in the loss of her little brother James. She is close friends with Maine, Wash, and North. The reason i wrote this story was to show readers the other side of Maine they've never gotten to see. (Also Tennessee has been rolling around in my mind for a while now.)
1. Chapter 1

**_The man looked at me and just cracked an evil grin as he looked back at my poor helpless little brother._**

_"Don't touch him! Don't you dare get near him!" the man rolled his eyes._

_"Oh, Maria, you never know when to quit, huh?" I glared furiously at him and he only laughed a slow laugh. "But now you must pay for your mistakes."_

_"Just take me instead! He didn't do anything!" I begged him as a sob escaped my throat. He smiled devilishly._

_"But you see, that's what makes it so I know you'll never do this again." he says pointing his pistol at my brother._

_"NO!" I screamed. But he ignored me and slowly pulled the trigger._

I sat up in my bed, sweat poured over my face and I heaved deep breaths, sending sharp pains through my lungs. I looked around at my surroundings, and the familiar grey walls of the _Mother of Invention _stared back. I haven't dreamed of that day in the three years I've been here and the fact that is showed its ugly face again scared me beyond reason. I glanced over at Agent Maine, my roommate and best friend. Every day I worried that being friends with him would haunt me someday but for now he slept peacefully in his cot, probably having a good dream from the way he was smiling sleepily. The quietness around me calmed me down and I lay back down in my bed but sleep refused to come to me. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling when I heard footsteps outside my door, instantly drawing my attention there.

I held my breath as the door opened but released it once I saw it was just Agent North Dakota. He rubs his blue eyes. North is blond with blue eyes and could be classed as handsome but I guess Maine and Wash could too.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard you scream and it scared the living daylight out of me." I frowned but nodded.

_I had a bad dream. _I say in sign language. North nodded. He was the only other Freelancer other than Maine to learn sign language to talk to me.

"I see. Still, you haven't made any… vocal noise in a really long time. It took me a minute to figure out it was you… and If you had been in real trouble you could be hurt by the time I got here." North looked down but I snapped my fingers and got his attention.

_I'm fine, really, I am. I'm just wondering why Maine didn't wake up if I had screamed. _North shook his head.

"I don't know what Maine dreams about, but if you screamed it probably worked its way into his dream. If you had really been in trouble…"

_North! Stop it! Don't act like this, it scares me._

"I'm sorry, I just…"

_Don't worry about it. _North had always been super protective of me ever since his sister South Dakota died, since I looked so much like her. But he wasn't the only one that was protective of me. So was Maine, he had taking a close liking to me when I taught him sign language so he could speak to at least me, ever since he lost his voice while being cut in the throat by the enemy during a battle. Then North had learned it, and acted as a translator for us, and then Agent Washington learned it because for one I was his partner and two, I saved his life on the battle field and he never let anyone or thing hurt me. These three cared about me in a way no one had ever before, and it scared me to think they may get hurt by me because of my past but I shook the thought away.

"Are you sure? I mean I can stay here if you want…"

_North, go get some sleep. Now._ He sighed, but nodded, wishing me good night he left to go back to his room, shutting the door behind him. I smiled to myself and rolled over in my bed shutting my eyes.

I would never let anything hurt them. Nothing.


	2. CT

**I woke up to a nudge on my side.** I rolled over in my bed to see Maine standing there rolling his green eyes. He had tan skin and black hair that was cut into a buzz cut just above his ears. He also had a scar that went over one of his eyes which made him look menacing but really he was just a big sweetheart when you got to know him better. First impressions weren't Maine's thing. Yet, he mostly got people's attention because he was very handsome, yet he rarely showed his face. He only trusted a few people to see him without his helmet and I was one of them. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and took Maine's out stretched hand to help me up. Our beds in this place were extremely low to the floor and it was difficult to get out of them sometimes.

Maine: _Come, on now, we have training in an hour._

Me: _Good morning to you too, Maine._

Maine: _Sorry, but if we get there early we can get some training in. _I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm. Maine loved to train.

Me: _I'm assuming I'm your training partner then?_

Maine smiles as an answer. I roll my shoulders.

Me: _ Alright, bring it._ Maine smirks and looks towards the door then back to me.

Maine: _I'll leave you to get dressed, see you in 10._ I nod and when he leaves I look down at what I was wearing and I'm relieved to find that I'm wearing a tank top and sweat pants. Some times on hard days I strip down when I sleep- normally when Maine is gone on a mission- and I would die if he saw me naked. I dress into my light green and light blue armor and head down to the training room.

I walk down a hallway and check the time on the clock on the wall; it reads 3:00 am. As I turn around I run into Agent Connecticut or CT as we call her.

"Watch it, mute." She spits out and looks me over. I try to brush past her but she blocks my path. "Hey, where do you think you're going? We're not done talking. Oh, wait. You can't talk, can you?" I feel anger building up in, it's not that I can't talk, it's just… complicated. "Worthless piece of trash." She spits out. I lose it, I swing my fist at her but she ducks and in a flash she pins my arms behind my back and shoves me against the wall. "Don't forget I'm faster than you, C." The impact I make knocks the clock off the wall and the glass shatters on the ground.

CT shoves me down onto the ground onto the broken glass, causing my helmet to fall off. I feel the cold concrete and glass enter my cheek and I see flashing colors before blacking out. About a moment later I open my eyes and see CT rolling her eyes. "Drama Queen." She says before leaving in the opposite direction. The pain radiates through me in sync with my heart and I taste blood in my mouth. Just before I pass again out I see Maine running towards me with panic struck across his face.

Then, darkness.


	3. Recovery

**I cannot see, but I can hear and feel.** I feel Maine lifting me up and running towards the medical bay, and I can hear the familiar swish of the door as it automatically opens and closes.

I cannot hear or feel anything for a while and it seems like forever until I hear the door of the medical bay open and two sets of rushed footsteps come in.

"Is she okay? What happened?!" I hear North's panicked voice ring.

"According to Maine, he found her like the on the floor when he heard some glass breaking and went to check on things. He doesn't really know how it happened, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until she wakes up to hear the whole story." An unfamiliar voice says, I assume it's a Medical professional.

"About how long until she wakes up?" I hear Wash's equally panicked voice ask.

"Well, she has a concussion and we had to remove some shards of glass from her forehead so I'm guessing she'll come around in a couple days. This may be as simple as she's knocked out cold. Or she could be in a coma. It all depends on how bad her concussion was and we can't tell for a couple more days."

"A Coma?!" Wash and North say together.

"Yes, a Coma. The floor is made of a special type of concrete that's designed to be very thick, and she hit it at full force, which would suggest she was thrown to the floor by another person." I try to open my eyes to see the scene unfolding around me but I can't move, making me worried that the Coma theory may ring true. "Either way she will need lots of rest to get better…"

"I'm staying." North interrupts.

"Me too." Wash says and I hear Maine grunt in agreement. The medical personal sighs.

"Fine, just don't get in the way." The medical personal says and leaves. I hear chairs being dragged over to my bed side and for a moment everything is quiet until Wash breaks the silence.

"I'm going to kill the person who did this to her." He says bluntly and I hear Maine grunt in agreement.

North sighs. "I wonder if she can hear us." He says and I feel all eyes on me. It keeps quiet until I hear Maine snap his fingers to North's attention and I assume he says something in sign language. "Good point Maine, I hadn't thought of that."

"What'd he say?" Wash asks.

"He said that he's heard that some people that are unconscious heal faster if you speak to them. Apparently it only works with people your friends with because at the sound of their voice the same chemical that makes your immune system work faster is released." There's a pause and North continues. "Basically it would make her heal faster if she had someone talk to her while she was in recovery."

"You think it'll work?" Wash says doubtfully.

"It's worth a try… Hey C? Can you hear me? Can you move anything, like a sign or something?" he asks with a tiny bit of desperation in his voice. I try to breath deeper but it's hard and I don't think they noticed anyway.

"Hey C, don't worry, we'll get the guy who did this to you." Maine scoffs and I can feel Wash's gaze turning from me to Maine. "What?" there's a pause while Maine says something in sign language.

"He says; 'don't assume it's a guy. Don't forget about CT and Carolina. Neither of them is exactly buddy-buddy with her'."

"Carolina wouldn't do that to her, it's too cruel for her motives. But you might be right about CT, she still isn't over C beating her in that match. Remember?" Wash says.

"Yeah, she went down two spots because C was a lower rank than her. Ct is pretty competitive, she has motive." Maine grunts and says something in sign language. "He said: And she is certainly strong enough, that C is fast and stealthy but is more… more fragile when it comes to fighting."

"I think once C gets better I'll pay a little visit to Connecticut." Wash says.

"I hope you don't think you can hog all of the interrogation to yourself. I want to find out who did this as soon as possible. And once I find them," North laughs without humor. "they're gonna wish they were dead." On that note I stop hearing for a while and after what seems like a couple of hours later I regain my hearing only to hear the soft snores of North, Wash, and Maine by my bed.


	4. Bonus chapter of North's point of view

North's point of view

I wake up to see Wash and Maine asleep next to me and C still not moving. It unnerves me to see her like that; she looks too much like South. Every time I see her it just brings back memories of my sister. But when I see her like this my blood boils, because not only am I seeing my best friend in a Coma, but I'm seeing my twin sister laying there, not moving again and again just like how I found her at Sidewinder two years ago.

I clench my fist tightly. Whoever did this to her is going to have hell to pay. C and South were really good friends. They did everything together, training, eating lunch, missions, heck they even shared a room.

Until Sidewinder.

Then C just got another reason to be quiet all the time. Around that time she taught Maine sign language and she changed him. Before Maine was dark, depressed, but still ridiculously strong, ever since she taught him to talk through sign language you could tell how much happier he became. He lit up every time C entered the room and he became one her new best friends.

I and C had always been close friends because of South and even closer after she… died. I've always known sign language because me and South's dad lost his voice after we were born, so naturally we had to learn it. This was only one of the many reasons me and C were close friends, we could actually talk to one another.

But I and Maine aren't her only friends. Wash is also really close to her too, but for another reason. She saved him on the battle field by shielding him from a blast of bullets headed for him. He still hasn't forgiven her for doing that, but has become very protective of her ever since. I guess Wash, Maine and I are her bodyguards, since we all have different reasons for protecting her with our lives. I understand Wash's reason and naturally my own but I can never get my head around Maine's reason. Sure she taught him to talk but anyone else could have done that. I've always thought there must be something more that's driving him to protect her…

I look back down at C, seeing her breath even a little sends relief shooting though me. The only other time I've seen anyone this still was when my sister died.

I don't know what I'd do if she ever died too. I'd probably have to kill myself from the guilt of not being able to keep her alive. My whole family is dead, in fact she's the only… the only thing important to me left. When I find out who did this to her there's not going to be a person left when I finish.

I would do anything for her.

Anything.


	5. Change of Plans

**I struggle to open my eyes but I still cannot.** I try to move my left hand to no success but I find I can tap my right pointer figure ever so slightly. Hey, improvement's improvement. I still hear snores from Maine, Wash and North so I try to busy myself with remembering every detail of the attack so they know the whole thing, until I can show them this improvement.

I was walking down the hall to the training room when I bumped into CT, she kept saying nasty things to me so I tried to punch her, wait. Was she just saying those things so I would attack and she would have a reason to attack back? In my mind I grit my teeth but I go back to remembering.

She pushed me onto the ground and into some glass and walked away. The medical personal said that Maine went to go check on the noise after he heard it, so how did CT get past him on his way to me? If Maine heard the glass break from all the way in the training room that must mean he heard an echo off of solid walls. So either she was a ghost or she knows a route no one else does.

Then I got here. End of story? I don't really know. I wasn't exactly alert from being pushed to the concrete, I might be mixing facts up, and then there was the black time that seemed like a moment to me but could have been any amount of time really. What did she do to me when I blacked out?

Thinking back to the time starts to hurt my head and I try to think about something else but it's getting hard like I'm forgetting or something. All I know is I need to wake up soon. The sooner the better because at this rate I'm going to forget everything. It kind of feels nice though, because every time I forget something I seem to get calmer. The calmness seems fake, like it's going to be here one moment and then be gone the next but it only gets deeper. It takes me a while to realize I haven't heard anything in a while and I focus on that. Surprisingly it seems to work as I hear voices. From what I can tell, things seem to last a lot longer for me then for Maine, Wash and North and it seems only a day has really passed.

"I'm starting to get really worried," Wash's voice says. "She hasn't moved even a little in ages. What if she really is in a Coma?" his voice cracks at the end.

"She's a fighter Wash, you know that." North's voice says but something seems different about his tone. It has a hint of sadness and doubt mixed in there somewhere. I've only heard this tone once, and that was when South died. Now I really need to wake up soon. If I don't, North might do something drastic which he has done before, but only again when South died. I walked in on him just sitting there. Not doing a thing. Just sitting there, staring at the floor. At first I thought he had slipped into a depression until he saw me standing there and the whole area around him seemed better, happier. I can only imagine how he feels now.

Maine doesn't respond but I know he's still there, I feel his gaze on me but I can't get at his emotions.

"She just looks so, pale." I hear Wash say. Am I really pale? I have white skin but still, pale? I feel tension in the room start to gather. Enough is enough; I have to try to wake up harder. With every ounce of energy I have left I try to open my eyes, even a little.

_Try harder! _ I scream at myself. _ Harder! Harder! Harder! _ I chant to myself. _ Think of James, he would want you to try. _The second I think his name I see light. Tiny little slits of light at the bottom of my vision. I can barely keep my eyes open and just when I'm about to give up I hear another voice, that's not my own.

_ You can do this sis! I believe in you!_

I bolt straight up in my bed gasping for air and startling Wash, North, and Maine in the process.

"C are you okay!?" North asks desperately, the others stare in disbelief but I ignore them. My eyes are frantic, searching for him.

"Where is he?!" I scream. I haven't used in forever and never in front of Wash and Maine so their eyes widen in shock. I sit there panting while they stare at me I look at each their faces and all at once I feel immensely tired and I fall back onto my pillows. They all bolt up and crowd around me, shaking me to wake me back up but I just stare blankly at the ceiling. For even the shortest of time he was there. James was there, and he was alive again.

I burst into tears, wailing and covering my face with my hands and rocking slowly. _Not James, not my brother… why was he in my head?! How did he do that?!_ I continue to cry and wail. I can hear North and Wash's desperate pleas to answer them but they don't matter, not right now.

I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder and I cry in surprise. When I open my eyes I see Wash, North , and Maine being restrained by personal, trying desperately to reach me, crying out in protest. I look at my shoulder and see a doctor slowly releasing liquid into me through a needle and all at once I feel extremely dizzy. My eyes roll back into my head and I fall back and start to fall asleep. As my vision fades I see North break free of his imprisonment and rush over to, me calling my name and shaking me.

Then the all too familiar darkness.

Wash's point of view

Slowly, I open my eyes to see Maine and North already awake.

"How long have you guys been up?" I ask. North glances at the clock and shrugs.

"About an hour, oh and Wash?"

"Yeah?"

"You snore, like, a lot." I blush from embarrassment and North chuckles. I look over at Maine, noticing he is looking at C intensely, and I can tell by his eyes he's on the verge of a breakdown.

"Hey, man it's okay." I say putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him but he shrugs it off.

"He's been like that since he woke up. He won't tell me anything." North says shrugging.

It's quiet for a moment until I break the silence. "I'm starting to get really worried. She hasn't moved even a little in ages. What if she really is in a Coma?" I hear my voice crack at the end.

"She's a fighter Wash, you know that." North says and I look from him to C. Maine doesn't add, only continue to stare at her. It's a little unnerving, watching him watch her like that, but I cannot decipher his emotions any farther then he's very upset. We all are, but Maine looks like if she doesn't move soon he's going to explode from worry. I bite my lip, I'm about to break too but at least I control myself from showing it.

"She's just so pale." It's quiet for a moment when all of sudden C bolts upright scaring the shit out of me, I gasp and so does North. Maine stares in disbelief. I stand up to get closer and so does North and Maine.

"C are you okay!?" North asks desperately.

"Where is he?!" she screams and I almost don't believe it, I've never heard her voice in my life and even though she's screaming it sounds beautiful. Her eyes are frantic as she searches the room for an unknown person. Then, she just falls back onto the bed. I gasp and try to shake her to bring her back, and North follows suit. But then she starts wailing and rocking back and forth. North and I back off as she continues to cry. Maine steps forward but out of nowhere a medical personal grabs him by the arms and holds him back. We turn to help but the same happens to us. I try to fight back but I haven't moved from that chair in a couple days so my muscles scream in protest. Then I and North see something horrible at the same time, a doctor is advancing towards her with a needle full of something lethal looking. I try to rush to C but I am still imprisoned.

"Let me GO!" I scream angrily but the personal must be trained to hold us back because I cannot break free. The doctor empties the substance in C's shoulder and immediately she stops crying and her eyes roll back in her head. That drives me and the others mad as we start to really fight back to get free, we kick backwards but both me and Maine miss, yet North lands a hit and the Doctor moans in pain while letting go of him. As North rushes over to C I see something in his eyes I've never seen before: insanity.

He calls her name and shakes her but she's gone again. Yet, he still insists on shaking her to bring her back and again, out of nowhere another doctor comes up and attacks North, stabbing him with a needle full of the same substance the other man gave C and North crumples to the ground. Something hits me in the head and I go down, the last the thing I hear is Maine suffering the same fate as he hits the floor.

And then I black out.


	6. Reunion

**I wake up in my old bedroom with Maine in his bed too, so I assume North and Wash are in their rooms too.** I rub my temples, whatever they gave me sure causes a hell of a headache. I look back over at Maine. He seems more knocked out than sleeping. I can only imagine how the guys reacted to see the doctor sedate me like that, especially since I had just woken up.

Oh gosh, I must have looked insane the way I woke up screaming for my brother. That on top of my crying and being sedated, along with me being out for so long must have freaked them all out. Maybe that's why Maine looks so… knocked out cold. Maybe they had to sedate the guys too if they tried to get to me.

I feel a pang of guilt shoot through me. Being sedated couldn't have been fun, but knowing Maine he probably was the last to be knocked out. I think about waking him up but he needs his sleep. Even though he got some sleep in the Medical Bay he must be exhausted even now.

I wonder into the bathroom searching for Aspirin and frown when I find we don't have any left. I go out into the hall to go steal some from North's room and run into Wash. His eyes lit up when he sees me and pulls me into a hug. I push him away slightly to let him know he's crushing me and he let's go.

"Oh! Sorry! Didn't mean to suffocate you!" I give him a look to tell him it's okay and he smiles. "Are you okay? I mean you scared us half to death when you woke up yesterday…" I look down at the floor with guilt but he lifts my chin up. "Hey, it's okay. Really it is. Water under the bridge. Do you want to talk about it?" I give him a look and he looks down. "Oh, yeah I forgot." This time I'm the one lifting his chin up to look at me which seems silly since he's easily a good half foot taller than me, I give him a sad smile and he returns it. He pulls me into another hug, gentler this time, and talks into my shoulder.

"I just got really scared about you I mean…" I hug him harder and he does the same.

"I'm okay." He pulls back quickly, shocked of hear my voice and I smile shyly.

"Since when are you talking?" he teases.

"Not permanent, you needed to know I was okay." His face gives away he's still shocked to hear my voice and I smile.

"Your voice is so…" he starts but his voice trails off. Everyone I speak to is always mesmerized by how beautiful my voice sounds, so his reaction doesn't surprise me. I shrug.

"I've always been like this." I look down the hall. "North." I say and he nods and ventures down to go get him while I go back in my room. I walk over to Maine and nudge him. When he doesn't awaken, I pinch his shoulder lightly and he starts to stir. I sigh; guess my voice will have to work again.

"Maine." I say nudging him. His eyes snap open. He sees me standing there and his face explodes with happiness. Before I know what's happening he's standing and hugging me so hard I whine in pain. At this sound he immediately lets go.

Maine: _Are you okay? I was so worried; please tell me you're okay._ I smile.

"Yeah Maine, I'm okay." His eyes widen in surprise at the sound of my voice. "Just for now." He nods, we stand there for a second and unable to control himself he pulls me into another hug. A smile and hug back. he pulls away.

Maine: _You have no idea how scared I got when I saw you in the hall. _I look down in guilt and he does the same thing Wash did and lifts my chin up. _ I didn't mean to make you upset it's just…_ he sighs deeply and I can tell he's angry. _ Whoever did this to you is going to wish they were dead. _ Chills go down my spine.

Me: _ Please don't, if you kill them the director will order you be executed. _ I feel a tear slide down my cheek. "Don't do that to me." I say softly. Maine shakes his head and has a scared look on his face.

Maine: _ I told you I would never let anything hurt you. Including myself, I'm sorry. But C, you can't let whoever did this get away with it! _ I shake my head.

Me: _ If I tell you who did it you'll go all psycho and so will North and Wash. You'll all be punished severally and… and I can't have you all get killed because of me! I cannot lose you guys! Not you too!_

Maine is speechless and looks at the ground then at me. _You don't understand how close we came to losing you, C! I'm not going to let the bastard get away with it! _ I sigh.

Me:_ But I know them, and that is just what they want. They want me to tattle and get you guys killed! _I feel a lump in my throat when I say that and I start to sob softly into my hands. CT is just going to keep on hurting me and I won't tell anyone because if I do Maine, Wash, and North will attack her, and all they'll do is get themselves killed. I hear the door open behind me as North and Wash walk in and North exclaims in surprise.

"What happened?! Is she okay?!" his voice sounds panicked and it only makes me cry harder. Even if the bastards already after me don't hurt them they'll just hurt themselves.

"What did you do?!" Wash cries angrily, getting up in Maine's face.

"Stop it!" I say through tears and I put myself between placing a hand on each of their chests in an attempt to push them apart but Maine is angry. I know how much hates being accused; he's always the first one they accuse if an agent gets hurt because of his temper and strength. "Stop it both of you!" I say, my voice cracking at the end. Both of their expressions soften when they look down at me but when they see they're doing the same thing they harden again.

I look at Maine, pleading with my eyes for him to calm down. The last thing I need is for them to hurt each other. He sighs and releases the tension in his shoulders but walks out of the room, shoving Wash with his shoulder on his way. I grab Wash's arm before he can chase after him and I shake my head. Maine just needs a moment to calm down. Nothing gets him angrier when I'm in trouble or when he's being accused of something and both happening at once took its toll. But Wash shakes my hand away and goes after Maine. I should go after them but my mind is mentally exhausted and I just collapse on my bed and North sits next to me.

"Sorry, I know this wasn't the welcome you needed." I say sighing. North doesn't seem fazed at all by the sound of my voice and instead seems totally at ease.

"Just give them time, we're all tired after last night." I nod.

"What _did_ happen last night after they knocked me out?" North shifts uncomfortably, his ease disappearing.

"It all sort of happened at once. We all tried to get to you but only I could get free. It didn't last long though, they sedated me too. I can only guess that Wash and Maine suffered the same fate." I look down at the ground. "Hey don't worry about it. We're all okay now and that's all that matters." I look up and smile sadly. He puts his arm around me and pulls me into a hug that I graciously accept.

"But really though are _you _okay?" I ask worriedly. "I mean, seeing me like that couldn't have brought good memories." He sighs and shakes his head slowly.

"It's just… seeing you like that reminded me so much of South…" his voice trails off. I put my hand on his and squeeze it.

"I'm okay now, and that's all the matters now right?" I say mimicking what he said earlier and he smiles. It's quiet for a moment before he speaks.

"Can I ask you something?" he says slowly. I nod and he hesitates but continues. "When you woke up… you said: 'where is he'. Who's 'he'?"

"I can't tell you." I say quietly.

"Wait, why not?" North says in a concerned tone.

"If I tell you, you could… you could be in danger. And I can't let myself put you in danger."

"Danger? Why would…"

"I just can't okay?!" I say a little harsher than I would like. "I just can't lose you guys too! Do you know how important you are to me? I have absolutely no family left and you guys are as close as I'm ever going to get ever again." I say on the verge of a breakdown.

"Hey, hey, shush." He says softly. "It's okay, If you don't want to tell me then don't put yourself in the position to."

"But that's the thing North. I want to tell you. I want _everyone _to know. I want the whole world to know so they'll kill the bastards after me!" I say and gasp. I wasn't supposed to say that much.

"Someone's after you? Who?" he says and I can sense his anger slowly rising. I stand up.

"I've said too much." I start towards the door but North's right behind me, before I can reach the door he grabs my shoulder and spins me around.

"Whoa, hey, who is after you? If you're in danger I need to keep you safe." He says, his eyes desperate and I sigh.

"If you want to know, go get Wash and Maine. I'm not about to keep anymore secrets.


	7. Confessions

****This is a revealing chapter so while it is short it gives lots of info away about C's past :) expect weekly updates from now on****

Waiting in my room for North to retrieve Wash and Maine is unbearable with the same questions floating around in my head. What if telling them puts them in the same danger I'm in? What if they don't believe me? What if they try to go after the people hunting me? That's the last thing I want. Those people… they're too strong for them, maybe even all the Freelancers and we're supposed to be the best of the best. Plus they have these ways of getting into your head that just stays with you. They would use your closest family against you. For me, it was my brother. For North it would either be South or me. For Wash it would be…me. The same goes for Maine. If they managed to capture all of us I haven't a doubt in my mind that all three of them would be hurt beyond reason if those people tortured me. And that's just what they would do.

They would do anything to get what they wanted. I mean, they killed my brother to make me crack, why not kill me to get all three of them to break down, because no matter how menacing North, Wash, and Maine may seem they are all fragile inside, and it seems to be recurring theme that I help keep them together.

Sighing, I stand up and walk into the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face. I used to do this every night before I went to bed, it kept me from confusing reality and the dream like state I so often find myself in.

The door swings open and North come in followed by Wash and Maine. Maine sits on his bed and North sits next to me, but Wash just stands by the door.

"Alright look. I know this isn't going to sound true, but it is, so bear with me." I sigh and begin.

"It all started when I was really little. My parents worked in this facility that tested for the possible solution to Cancer. They did god's work, basically. But I rarely got to see them; in fact the longest time I spent with my mother was when she was on maternity leave with my brother. After he was born I was left alone a lot to take care of him, since the babysitter my parents hired very rarely showed up. That's how it was for a while until one day, my parents came home in a rush grabbing papers and clothes while stuffing them in suitcases. I tried to ask what was going on, but they didn't answer. In fact they completely ignored me and my brother until the last possible second which is when they led us to my room and locked the door behind them.

It was quiet for a while until I heard the noises of people breaking in downstairs. I tried to hide with my brother but I was only twelve and he was only seven and I couldn't get him to listen. I ended up putting my brother in my closet and I hid under the bed. When my door opened some men came in. For a little while they couldn't find us but then one of them looked in the closet and found my little brother. It freaked me out and I tried to get the man to back off but I ended up getting captured too. I don't remember how but eventually we got to the facility my parents worked at and they brought us inside and locked us in holding cells that were brought in.

I thought we were here because our parents stole something and we were going to be used as leverage. I was partly right, because I heard them calling my parents to get them to come get us but they refused.

We were stuck in that place for a while until one day our guard fell asleep and I could reach they keys hanging from his pocket. I managed to open the door to my cell and I was In the process of unlocking my brother's cage when I dropped the keys and the man woke up. I thought we would just be put in our cells but the man radioed it in and got orders to bring my brother to someplace called the "Chamber," and me be kept in my cell. They dragged my brother away and I didn't know what was going to happen to him so when they were trying to put me in my cell I bit the man's hand and got down the hallway about 500ft before they started shooting. I did they only thing I could do and I triggered the fire alarm button hanging on the wall, which I knew would open all the cells and cause the chaos I needed to escape or at least find my brother.

Somehow, and I still don't know how, I got to a where my brother was. He was unattended and tied to the wall." I say and my voice starts to crack. North puts his arm around me to comfort me and I continue.

"As I tried to untie him the same officer who was our guard came in seething. He…he slapped me so hard I fell to the ground and he pointed a gun at me. But then he noticed my brother and turned the gun on him." At this point I'm on the verge of crying and Wash, Maine and North are all sitting closer to me, either to hear better or to support me, I'm not sure which.

"I begged him not to shoot my brother, to take me instead." I say and I feel the tension in North who is clenching his fist tightly. "But he ignored me saying that I needed to be taught a lesson. And… and." I burst into tears again. I feel someone's arms around me-I assume North's- in an attempt to comfort me. The whole room feels washed in sadness and anger. I catch a glimpse of Maine and Wash, each seething with anger and pacing around the small room. I collect myself and try to continue with a teetering voice.

"A lot after that is just fuzzy. But I remember getting away and them sending men after me." I look up. "They are still after me. I run into them from time to time and every time I do I have to relocate somewhere, again. The whole reason I joined the army was to get protection and then I was drafted into Project Freelancer and well, you know the rest."

Everyone is quiet for a minute, letting it sink in. North pulls me closer with his arm and keeps me there, holding me together.

"Are you alright?" North whispers to me. I nod and take a deep breath, and stand up, letting North's arm fall to his side.

"There's something I need you guys to see." I say quietly.


End file.
